Spin Cycle

How ironic was it that Sen. John McCain chose the Town of Hempstead as the place to start making “Joe the Plumber” into a campaign legend as he attacked Sen. Barack Obama’s tax plan in their final debate?

It turned out that tradesman Joe Wurzelbacher of Ohio, at right in AP photo, lacks a plumber’s license. Well, if either presidential candidate wanted to find a place where plumbing licenses and politics can turn controversial, they could have stuck around Hempstead, America’s largest township.

On June 11, Kathleen Gavin of Massapequa delivered a bold public speech to Nassau County legislators. She’s been supporting a bill to impose a countywide licensing system for the plumbing trade, sponsored at the state level by Assemb. Charles Lavine. The measure
has stalled, presumably due to a lack of home-rule support from the affected localities.

“It would open a window into the closed worlds of the local
Plumbers Examining Boards, who currently operate as they see fit,” Gavin
said. “They alone decide who gets licensed, who gets permits...They
enforce codes. They handle complaints. They are a one-stop shop — a closed
shop.”

“The members of these boards are, by and large, owners of large plumbing companies in Nassau County, yet they are also compensated by the Towns in which they work — creating conflicts of interest...so glaring that they cry out for reform,” she said, alluding to
Oyster Bay and North Hempstead as well.

As she and husband Ed Gavin described in detail her son, a licensed plumber elsewhere, encountered an irregular obstacle course when he sought a Hempstead plumber’s license. The Gavins see this is a wrenching example of a locally-enforced business cartel -- whether your name is Joe, Josephine, or Sam.

Dan Janison

UPDATE: For a relevant rebuttal, see plumbing contractor Pat Dolan's response in the comments below.

At the New York Republican gathering here Monday, delegate Jim Picken, leader from the Town of Oyster Bay, was asked how the GOP could make up ground back home due to paring back the convention program.

"I don't think we really have to make up ground...I think what the Senator (McCain) has done in downplaying this convention was absolutely the right thing to do. It's a terribel situation what went down on the Gulf Coast and this is what the Republican party is about..."

We ran into a man with what sounded like a unique practice: Eric T. Singer, of New York City, who identifies himself as a portfolio manager, from Congressional Effect Management. He went into some detail about how he shuns investment when the Congress is in session with the presumption that the House and Senate could act to regulate and worsen aspects of the economy....

"Going back to 1965, on an annualized basis," Singer said, "the stock market goes up at 1.6 percent when Congress is in sesion, exclusing divideds. It goes up at an annualized rate of 17.6 percent when they're on vacation." He said he isn't a delegate at the convention but a "hanger-on."

Two losing candidates in last year’s local elections have landed jobs at the Nassau Elections Board — not an unusual outcome for loyalists who take on strong incumbents at their party’s request.

Elizabeth Faughan, a Republican Oyster Bay Town Board member who challenged the Nassau Legislature’s Presiding Officer Diane Yatauro (D-Glen Cove) last fall, was hired last month as a $50,000 fulltime administrative assistant in charge of the GOP board efforts to comply with the Help America Vote Act. Republican Elections commissioner John DeGrace said of Faughnan, an attorney, “She’s an outstanding employee. We’re very happy to have her.”

Also moving to the board recently was Democrat Kevin Gorman, who will be heading up the Democrat’s HAVA efforts for a salary of $82,500. Gorman, who previously worked at Nassau’s Off-Track Betting Corp., has been a perennial Democratic candidate who last year stepped in to challenge Hempstead Republican Supervisor Kate Murray when the party’s first choice dropped out of the race.

Celeste Hadrick

Frank Sammartano was given a second-chance, acknowledges Oyster Bay Supervisor John Venditto.

Sammartano resigned in 2003 as administrative assistant to Republican town board members after admitting he lifted a computer disk from the desk of a secretary for a a Democratic board member. “This type of behavior will not be tolerated in the Town of Oyster Bay,” Republican Venditto said then.

Democratic legislature candidate John Rennhack's Nassau GOPwatch reported last week that Sammartano, leader of the Jericho Republican club, was back on the payroll. A town spokeswoman subsequently told Newsday that Sammartano, who resigned in July 2003 at a salary of $52,000, was rehired in Jan. 2004 as a labor supervisor and was promoted last November to a $81,375-a-year public works deputy commissioner.

Venditto said Sammartano came to him and made a case for being rehired, pointing out that then Nassau District Attorney Denis Dillon had dropped the original misdemeanor charge of official misconduct to a non-criminal violation.

“I have track record of giving town employees at all levels of the town government a second chance,” Venditto said. “Frank is one of the situations that has had a happy ending. He is and continues to be a very valuable employee in the Town of Oyster Bay.”

As for Sammartano’s political activities, “Its not a factor in my determination,” Venditto said.

Celeste Hadrick

What's local is global.

Here's one worth noting on the grass-roots civics front: The Oyster Bay Town Board will conduct a hearing Tuesday on a temporary halt to construction and demolition permits.

Is there a place anywhere in a region that does not now face profound development and zoning choices that will shape our future landscape?

Click below for the official announcement: